NBC Greenlights 1600 Penn And Animal Practice To Series

There's more good news for NBC pilots, one of which brings another Book of Mormon star to the small screen. Hot on the heels of the news that NBC had given early pickups to Save Me, The New Normal and Revolution, in addition to the Matthew Perry starring comedy Go On, comes word that the network has also greenlighted 1600 Penn and Animal Practice (formerly Animal Kingdom) to series.

Deadline posted the news, stating that both shows join NBC's growing list of new comedies set to join the 2012-2013 TV line-up.

1600 Penn is described as a family comedy set in the White House and stars Josh Gad, Bill Pullman, Jenna Elfman and Martha MacIsaac. As though the cast weren't great enough, the pilot was directed by Jason Winer, whose credits include Modern Family. With 1600 Penn getting a series order, this puts both of the leads from the original cast of the Tony Award winning Broadway musical Book of Mormon at the network. Josh Gad, who not only co-stars in 1600 Penn but is also credited as a co-creator starred alongside Andrew Rannells in the Trey Parker/Matt Stone-co-created musical. Rannells is one of the stars of NBC's recently ordered comedy series The New Normal. It's great to see that things worked out for both of their TV projects.

As for Animal Practice - not to be confused with Private Practice, and possibly retitled to avoid confusion, associations and/or legal issues with Disney World's Animal Kingdom - the comedy comes rom Brian Gatewood and Alex Tanaka and stars Justin Kirk as a "Houst"-like veterinarian who prefers dealing with animals over people. Among the cast are Tyler Labine, Bobby Lee and Amy Huberman. Have we seen an adorable monkey on NBC since the days of Marcel on Friends?